Φιλολογία

COLOURS

Πληροφοριακά Στοιχεία

Δημοσιεύθηκε : 30 Νοεμβρίου 2014

1. For prehistoric man the sky, the sea, forests, snow, blood, fire, soot, ash, roses, saffron, violets, sulphur, gold, silver and copper represented the fifteen naturally occurring examples of the thirteen principal colours: white, black, silver, ash-grey, red, pink, yellow, saffron (orange), reddish-yellow (the colour of fire), green, greenish-blue, sky-blue and violet. The rainbow after a summer rainfall and a flowering meadow in spring also provided early man with two remarkable sets of colour samples. Yet not all of these natural examples of colour were also sources of their related colour pigments: it is not possible to paint something blue with sea water, nor is it possible to paint something white with snow. Only three of the above examples of colour are also sources and providers of the corresponding pigments: soot, saffron and blood, and two of these – saffron and blood – only after an elaborate and laborious preparatory process. Although the ancients could see colours in nature in all their vitality, they were seldom able to capture this vitality in the art of colouring, and when they did so it was with great difficulty.

2. The nature of colour preoccupied two great ancient Greek scientists: Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) and Aristarchus of Samos (285-215 B.C.), who also discovered the fact that the planetary system is heliocentric. Aristotle realised that there is a colour scale in nature (in his short treatise On Colours), while Aristarchus realised that colours do not exist in complete darkness, i.e. that colour is a component of light itself and is determined by the nature of the object that the light falls upon.1 Over two thousand years were to pass until a correct analysis of light was made, it was discovered that the rainbow is no more than a natural resolution of light, and scientists were able to determine light waves, their lengths and the fact that the different wavelengths are due to the different elements of matter which emit them, when these elements are incandescent, molten or vapourised and radiate light.

3. Another issue that preoccupied Aristotle, both in the abovementioned work in particular and in other of his works in a more incidental manner, was the process of colouring, i.e. the way in which some bodies, apart from those which possess a natural colour like gold, copper and sulphur, acquire colour later by being coatedwith, or immersedin, various other substances, or the way in which bodies can become bleached or lose their colour. Aristotle understood that these things occur only as a result of some chemical or mechanical action but he could not define the processes more accurately. Nevertheless, he certainly understood that bodies which possess a natural colour, such as (ferrous) blood, penetrate or become deposited in the pores or on the surfaces of the bodies that are coloured by them. He was also interested in the colours that could be produced by combining two or more different pigments in varying proportions. At this point, of course, he confused theoretical physics with practical chemistry and he could not see that the nature of colour – what we would now call ‘emitted colour wavelength’ – is one thing and the dyeing of white hair with red purple or the mixing of pigments to produce a different colour is another. He understood that colour is sometimes produced in one way and sometimes in another but he could not classify these different cases according to a natural criterion and he could not draw a clear distinction between the natural production of colour and its production by technical means.

4. The ancients also failed to grasp the fact that black (μέλαν) is not a colour but the absence of colour; they were evidently confused by the fact that an object could be coloured black by coating it with a black substance such as soot, in the same way that an object could be coloured red by smearing it with blood; in other words, they were confused precisely because they could not distinguish between the natural source of colour (the radiant glowing properties of matter) and the artificially concocted dyes that are smeared onto objects in order to colour them, or the mixing of two artificial pigments to form yet another artificially concocted pigment. Some even more naïve individuals also confuse the concepts of ‘white’ and ‘colourless’.

5. A fruitful first step towards resolving this issue was taken of course by Aristarchus with his ingenious realisation that no colours exist in absolute darkness; however, research on this subject soon came to a halt in the 3rd century B.C. and was only resumed over two thousand years later, after the invention of the printing-press, in Western Europe and America because the other ancient Greeks scorned and mocked Aristarchus and even threatened him – the philosopher Cleanthes even proposed that he should be put to death –, just as they did in the case of his other discovery, the fact that the planetary system was heliocentric and not geocentric. He was even envied and derided by his fellow student, the great Archimedes.2 The ancient Greeks were very self-destructive when they were consumed with envy, not only in politics but also in science. In this respect the complex-ridden philosophers were the worst offenders.

6. Between Aristotle and Aristarchus, Aristotle’s pupil Theophrastus also wrote a treatise entitled On Colours. Both master and pupil were preoccupied with the question of how colours fade and disappear completely. Indeed, Theophrastus – who, through his treatise On Stones, was the first great gemmologist and founder of the science of gemmology – had great experience of the indelible inorganic colours of precious stones, which do not fade like those of organic pigments and colours. Yet neither of them knew about oxygen, its effects and the way in which the carbon in organic pigments slowly burns up as a result of the action of atmospheric oxygen, a process which causes organic colours to fade. Nor were they able to explain the difference between fugitive and permanent colours; nor did they know that the determining factor was whether the colours were organic or inorganic.

7. Colours, of course, appear to be grouped into nine groups: the seven apparent colours of the rainbow plus white, which is a result of the combined radiation of all seven colours of the rainbow, and black, which is not a colour. Today, however, millions of colours are known to science, these being as numerous as all the different materials that exist on Earth and in the universe, as each of these radiates light on its own wavelength and reflects composite light at its own frequency. There are in fact 90 basic colours, as many as the natural elements of matter. The millions of colours that exist are grouped around these 90 colours, and these 90 sets of colours are grouped around the nine large groups (the eight colours plus black) mentioned above. Black does not have shades of its own – how could a non-colour have shades? – but only gradations between itself and white, such as charcoal grey, lead grey, ash grey etc.

8. The particular sensations that the various colours produce in man are entirely subjective in character. It is a question of how much his eyes and nerves can tolerate them. Thus for him red is a sweet, vivid and prominent colour; yellow and orange are very sweet, vivid and prominent and can also be stimulating (this is why they are used on road signs and as a warning colour on clothing worn by labourers working on busy roads); green, purple and black are relaxing on the eyes, while black can be oppressive and even depressing; and blue is soothing and relaxing.

9. As for the theory that other creatures and indeed insects see colours differently – for example, green as red, red as blue, etc. –, I admit that I have not yet been convinced that this is true. I cannot see how this can be proved. In an entirely theoretical manner, I too could claim that this could happen between two people who live together for seventy years without them realising it. How could it be proved if this actually happens or not?

10. Everything I have said so far about the nature of colour and how much the ancients knew about it was by way of introduction. My main purpose here is to present the names of the colours that are to be found in ancient Greek texts and to say exactly which colour each of them represents. In other words, my chief interest is in studying and interpreting the linguistic aspects of colour. I have thus found about 70 ancient Greek names for colours, though this is not to say that I have found them all or that I intended to do so. This is because the number of words for colours in any language (and that is counting just the relevant names and participles) is much smaller than the number of existing colours, and this is why not all colours can have a name; they can only be counted. Even so, in practice people nowadays define about a hundred named colours by their ancient or more modern names, such as κόκκινο (red), κίτρινο (yellow), πράσινο (green), γαλάζιο (blue), μαύρο (black), λευκό (white) etc. Of the 70 ancient Greek names for colours, some denote hues (variations) of the main colours; others denote the same colour but in terms of that colour’s different pigments (which are usually vegetal, less often animal-based and rarely inorganic), while others, apart from their seasonal or dialectal differences, do not differ from each other at all, just as we might say μέλαν in ancient Greek, atrum in Latin and μαύρο in modern Greek. Four practical issues regarding colours have emerged from my study of ancient Greek texts: the appearance of a particular colour, i.e. whether it is red, yellow, green, blue etc.; the names of colours, e.g. κόκκινον (red), ἐρυθρὸν (red), πορφυροῦν (red or purple), φοινικοῦν (purple-red or crimson) etc.; the source of a colour’s name, e.g. the fact that χρυσοῦν (golden) derives from the metal χρυσός (gold), ἀργυροῦν (silver) from the metal ἄργυρος (silver), πορφυροῦν from the blood of the purple-fish πορφύρα (Murex trunculus), κίτρινον from the edible fruit κίτρον (lemon) etc.; and the names and nature of pigments, e.g. αἰθάλη (soot), γύψος (chalk), πορφύρα (purple dye), μίλτος (red earth), ὤχρα (yellow ochre) etc. Finally, sometimes there is no name for a colour per se but only the name of its colouring or adjective or both; an example of a full listing is κόκκινον (the colour red), κόκκος(red colouring) and κόκκινος (the adjective for the colour red), while an example of a partial listing is μίλτος (red earth colouring) and μιλτόχρους(the adjective for the colour of red earth), while the exact word for the related colour has not been found.

11. Here, then, I will examine about 70 names of colours by classifying them into eight groups of colours; eight groups because I treat two colours of the rainbow, blue and indigo, as one: κυανοῦν (dark blue). Most of the names are in the group for red, the favourite colour of the ancients. The second largest group is for the colour yellow, and the third largest group is for white. These are followed by the other colours. Each of the eight groups bears the ancient name of the main colour of that group, as follows: λευκὸν (white), μέλαν (black), ἐρυθρὸν (red), κίτρινον (yellow), κρόκινον(orange), πράσινον (green), κυανοῦν (dark blue) and ἰῶδες (violet). The names of the colours derive mostly from the source of the colouring matter (e.g. πορφύρα [purple-fish] – πορφυροῦν [purple]), to a lesser extent from natural examples of colour (e.g. μῆλον [apple] – μήλινον [apple-green]), and to an even smaller extent from other things (e.g. λευκόν). Today, at least in the modern Greek language, almost all colour names derive from the examples of those colours in nature (e.g. ἀσημί [silver-coloured] from ἀσήμι [silver], θαλασσί [sea-blue] from θάλασσα [sea], κυπαρισσί [brownish green] from κυπαρίσσι[cypress], λαχανί [lime green] from λάχανο [cabbage], σταχτί[ash grey] from στάχτη[ash], καστανό [brown] from κάστανο [chestnut], μηλοπράσινο [apple-green] from μήλο [apple], χαλκόχρωμο [copper-coloured] from χαλκός [copper], σιδερόχρωμο [iron-coloured] from σίδερο [iron] and σιταρένιο [wheat-coloured] from σιτάρι [wheat]). About half of the names are second-declension adjectives, like καστανό, while the other half are indeclinable, like λαχανί, σμαραγδί (emerald) and ουρανί (sky-blue). They all possess a neutral sense, even the indeclinable ones. Now we come to the analysis of the names of the colours.

12. A. Λευκόν (white): the colour of snow; ἄσπρο in modern Greek. To describe its ideal form we also have διάλευκον, κατάλευκο, ὁλόλευκο, κάτασπρο and ὁλόασπρο.

13. The white category would appear to include the colour ἀργύρεον or ἀργυροῦν (silver); this is why in prehistoric times these two colours had the common name ἀργόν in Greek, from which derive the words ἄργυρος and ἀργυροῦν.3Ἀργυροῦν was the colour of all metals except gold and copper, and especially of silver and mercury, and also of modern mirrors, whose surface consists of a combination of these two metals covered by a protective layer of transparent glass. This colour, of course, is not exactly white. However, it is the colour of the noonday sun and daylight and this is why in prehistoric Greek the name for the sun was ἄργος and, as a symbolical deity, Ἄργος; later it was called ζέων and φαέθων (meaning ‘he who scorches [ζέει] and shines [φάεθει]’), and was also known by the names ζεὺς Ἄργος and φαέθων Ἄργος and later simply by the epithets Ζεὺς (Zeus) and Φαέθων (Phaethon),4 just as the materials διφθέρα (hide), μῆλον (plum) and βύβλος (book) were first combined with epithets – Περγαμηνὴδιφθέρα (Pergamene hide), Δαμασκηνὸν μῆλον (Damascene plum) and πάπυροςβύβλος (papyrus book; in Egyptian papyrus means ‘hieratic’) – and then later only their epithets remained as the proper names περγαμηνὴ (parchment), πάπυρος (papyrus) and δαμασκηνὸν(damson; δαμασκηνὸν also acquired a Latinate stress in δαμάσκηνον, as in the case of Παλαιστινὴ – Palaestina – Παλαιστίνη). In modern Greek the word for the colour silveris still ἀργυροῦν, ἀργυρὸ or ἀργυρένιο, while the names ἀσημί, μεταλλί and σιδερί also exist. The metals with this colour, of course, each have their own slightly distinctive hue, e.g. iron has a blackish hue, aluminium a whitish one, lead, zinc and chrome – to varying extents – a bluish one, ἀνίωτος σίδηρος (nickel) a yellowish one and other metals other hues. Yet when they are viewed separately they all seem to have the same colour; the differences between them can only be seen when they are placed side by side, and even then only by a discerning eye. The natural material providing the colour ἀργυροῦν is called ἄργυρος(silver), while the adjectives describing this colour in ancient Greek are ἀργὸς, ἀργάεις, ἀργήεις, ἀργᾷς, ἀργᾶς, ἀργὴς, ἀργυφὴς, ἀργύφεος, ἄργυφος, ἀργυρόχροος - ἀργυρόχρους and σιδηρόβαφος,5 while the corresponding adjectives in modern Greek are ἀργυρὸς, ἀργυρένιος, ἀσημόχρωμος and σιδερόχρωμος. The fact that ἀργὸνand ἀργυροῦν originally stood for the same colour as white, at least in terms of their name, is evident in the names πύγαργος (a deer with a white rump), Ἄργος (Argus, Odysseus’ white dog), and Ἀργὼ6 (Argo, an Achaean white-painted ship, as opposed to the red-painted μιλτοπάρῃα7 = ‘red-cheeked’ Creto-Minoan ships and the black Dorian vessels). There are no silver deer or dogs or other furry creatures, nor is it likely that the ship was painted silver.

14. B. Μέλαν (black): the colour of soot (hence μέλαθρον8 = a smoke-blackened building, a house blackened by the smoke from its hearth or a temple blackened by the burning of incense. Also μελανὸ or μαῦροin modern Greek. To describe its ideal form we have the words κατάμαυρο and ὁλόμαυρο.

15. Between white and black there are various intermediate colours: ἔκλευκον(off-white, straw-coloured, ecru, bone-coloured or sugar-coloured), μύινον (mouse-coloured), φαιόν (ashen grey), τεφρόν (ash-coloured), κερατοειδές (horn-coloured), ψαρὸν (the colour of the starling, a bird the colour of dry wood flakes or old planks)9, μολύβδεον– μολυβδοῦν (the colour of slightly oxidised lead), with its modern Greek equivalent μολιβί, and μόλυβδος (lead), the natural substance from which it derives, and the related adjectives μολυβδόχροον – μολυβδόχρουν and μολυβδοφανής,10 with their modern Greek equivalents μολυβδόχρωμο, μολυβένιο and μολιβί, and finally the darkest colour of all, ἀνθρακί (coal-black).

16. C. Ἐρυθρὸν (red): the favourite colour of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks and Romans and probably of all peoples. Ἐρυθρὸν is the oldest Greek name for this colour, appearing in the earliest Greek texts from the 15th century B.C.; that is to say, in the Achaean syllabic tablets at Knossos (Ε – ρυ – το – ρο = Ἔρυθρος, a proper noun like the modern name Κόκκινος, 15th c. B.C.) and at Pylos (δι – πτε – ρα – ε – ρυ – τα – ρα = διφθέρα ἐρυθρά, a hide painted red like the hides used in red shoes and leather garments, 13th c. B.C.).11 This colour has the greatest number of names, from at least 16 different roots, namely ἐρυ-, αἷμα (blood), φόνος (blood), πορφύρα (purple-fish), ἁλουργὴς (sea-purple), καρύκη(a rich sauce made of blood and spice), πῦρ (fire), φλὸξ (flame), οἶνος (wine), μίλτος (red earth), χαλκὸς (copper), κιννάβαρι (cinnabar), πύρρα (a red bird), κόκκος (kermes-berry), ῥόδον (rose) and ὕσγη(a shrub); seven of these denote the object in nature from which the colour derives, seven denote both the natural object and the pigment drawn from it, while one denotes the source and the process of dyeing and one is difficult to trace.

17. Of the name ἐρυθρὸν, –θρὸνof course is the ending, while the root ρυ- or ερυ- is of unknown meaning, although it appears to be the same as the ru- stem of words in Greek’s sister language Latin, e.g. rubeo –rubens (to redden or blush, either as a result of good health, being out of breath, shame or some other reason); rubens (lupis), the participle, denoting a red sapphire, i.e. a ruby; ruber (red); rubor (redness, blushing, ruddiness, reddish inflammation); rubedo (redness, blushing); rubicus (grilled); rubicundus (reddish); rubicundulus (slightly reddish); rubellus (reddish), rubellulus (slightly reddish); rubesco (to begin to turn red, as in the Greek verb ἡβάσκω, from the verb ἡβάω = to turn red); rubico (I am reddened); Rubico – the Rubicon (a river with water clouded by red earth; Ἐρυθρὸς Ποταμὸς, as in Ἐρυθρὰ Θάλασσα = Red Sea); rubefacio – rubefactus (to colour something red; something coloured red); rubellianus (red grape, red wine); rubus and rubeus (red berry); rubetum (red shrub); rubia (dyer’s madder, a plant giving a red dye); rubellio (a red fish); rubricus – rubrica (red, red dye, red ink); rubricatus (something dyed red); and rubricosus (reddish). As the parent verb rubeo means ‘to turn red’, then once again the root of the verb must be ‘blood’ or the ‘rush of blood’ that occurs when one turns red, a natural example of the colour red, as are the roots αἷμα, φόνος, πορφύρα, ἁλουργὴς and καρύκη. And this is what the prehistoric Greek words ἐρυθρὸς and Ἔρυθρος mean. (In Greek when a name becomes a proper name the stress of the word is shifted backwards, as in the proper names Χρῆστος, Λάμπρος, Κάρπος and Ἔραστος). The Greek ρυ- or Latin ru- are probably the same as the ρυ- in ῥέω (to flow) - ἐρρυην (flowed) - ῥύσις (flowing) - ῥύαξ (stream) -ῥυτὸν (rhyton) and show how prehistoric man perceived blood as something that gushed from a wound with a rrrrrou sound; it is therefore onomatopoeic, for language began with primitive onomatopoeic words. Ἐρυθρὸς -Ἔρυθρος can mean ‘red-cheeked’, like πυρράκης (Genesis 25: 25; I Kingdoms 16:12) = ‘bronze-coloured person glowing with health or reddened by the sun’, and Κόκκινος or Κοκκινάκης. The appearance and use of this word in very early times, its etymological connection with a word of the same meaning in Greek’s sister language Latin, and the scarcity or lack of specialised definitions and names for fine shades of colour show that ἐρυθρὸνis the general name for all types of red, ranging from crimson to the palest pink. In the Hellenistic era, in the Septuagint translation of the Bible, the expression δέρματακριῶνἠρυθροδανωμένα often occurs,12 which means ‘red-dyed sheep’s hides’, dyed with dye from the plant ἐρυθρόδανον, known today in botanical science as rubia tinctoria (common or dyer’s madder, or ῥουβία ἡ βαφικὴ in Greek). This is a greyish downy plant with a four-sided stem that villagers once used to make brooms for sweeping yards and sheep-pens; its common Greek name is ῥιζάρι and it was once used for dyeing woollen objects red; its dye used to be effective in colouring animal materials like wool and hide. The Biblical expression that occurs in the Mosaic Law – δέρματακριῶνἠρυθροδανωμένα – is as old and has the same meaning as the expression διφθέρα ἐρυθρά in the Achaean syllabic tablets(δι – πτε –ραε –ρυ –τα –ρα).13 In the Graeco-Roman era the colour name ἐρυθρῶδες (= reddish) appeared, to describe reddish black figs.14

18. Φόνος or φοῖνος (like Φόβος – Φοῖβος, πόα – ποία, ῥόα – ῥοιά, ποῶ – ποιῶ, μόρα – μοῖρα etc.) was the word for ‘blood’ in prehistoric Greek, hence φοινίσσω meant ‘to dye red’ and the name for the colour red was φοινὸν, φοινικόεν – φοινικοῦν or φοινίκεον. This is also why the ancient Greeks called the Canaanite people who processed and traded in this colour Φοίνικες and Φοίνισσαι (Phoenicians = ‘dyers of red’).15 The red pigment they used came from the blood of the purple-fish πορφύρα, In Homer this red colour is sometimes called φοινὸς16 (αἵματιφοινὸς) and sometimes φοινικόεις, while in Herodotus it is called φοινίκεος, in Xenophon φοινικοῦς, and in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. it meant the colour of fire – πύρινον or φλόγινον or φλογῶδες, roughly the same as brick-red or deep pink, for Aristotle says: ‘For smoky flame and coal, when it is burned through, are seen to have a red (φοινικοῦν) colour’17 Hence in Homer’s time we already see the appearance of the more precise and factually more accurate terms πορφύρεον – πορφυροῦν and ἁλιπόρφυρον,18 and in the 5th century B.C. appear the terms ἁλουργὲς – ἁλουργὸν and αἱματῶδεςand other words with the prefix αἷμαthat clearly denote the purple-fish πορφύρα, its blood and the seawater (ἅλα) in which this work (ἔργον) of catching the purple-fish and producing its purple dye took place.19 From the texts it appears that πορφυροῦν or ἁλουργὲς or ἁλιπόρφυρον were shades of red ranging from deep crimson to pale pink. In the 5th century B.C. Sophocles, Euripides and Thucydides use the following colour words: αἱματώδης (blood-red), αἱμάτωψ (‘bloody to behold’), αἱματωπὸς (‘bloody to behold’)and αἱματaβαφής (bloodstained),20 while in the 4th century B.C. Xenophon draws a distinction between the colours of the garments φοινικίς (a red cloak) and πορφυρίς (a purple garment),21 Plato uses the colour name ἔναιμον (‘with blood in it’),22 and Aristotle, in defining the colour πορφυροῦν, says that the word πορφυροειδὴς denotes the colour of the rising or setting sun (the modern Greek verb for the action of the sun setting, βασιλεύω, means ‘to be robed in royal purple [βασιλικήπορφύρα]’).23Πορφύρα, as the name for a particular colour of cloth, is also known as βασιλική in the Acts of the Apostles;24 as by this time only kings were allowed to wear purple; the latter permitted their nobles to wear only narrow strips of purple on the borders of their garments, and this is why they were known as εὐπάρυφοι.25 In the Graeco-Roman era the words αἱμωπὸς (‘bloody to behold’), αἱματοειδὴς (bloodlike) and αἱμώνια (σῦκα) (blood-red figs) appear.26Καρύκη was an edible Lydian concoction, like taramas (fish-roe salad) and sausage or salami, made from various foods though mainly blood, and it was whisked like taramas or egg-lemon sauce; this is why the lexicographer Hesychius defined καρυκεύειν as συνταράττεινκαὶ ἀναδεύειν (‘beating and mixing’); hence the word καρύκευμα (spice, seasoning).27 It is clear, then, that Lydian καρύκη had a vaguely red colour like sausage or salami. This colour was already called καρύκινον by at least the 4th century B.C. for during this period Xenophon, in referring to various colours, mentions ἱμάτιακαρύκινα (red cloaks).28 So much for the various shades of red and the colours related to it (magenta, burgundy, salmon, brick-red) which derived from, or had their etymological origin in, or drew their pigment from, blood, the naturally occurring example of the colour red.

19. Πῦρ (fire) and φλόγες (flames) are very well known, identical in meaning and always the same; therefore their related colours, which in the texts bear the names πύρινον, φλόγινον, πυρῶδεςand φλογῶδες,29 have an obvious meaning. However, it should be borne in mind that the ancients did not have the kind of intense fires that we have nowadays in torch-welding, electric welding, liquefied gas stoves, blast furnaces, the burning of fossil fuels and electric lamps and burners, which may be even white or blue in colour; they only knew the colours produced by wood fires, the flames from oil lamps and candles, and the colour of fire itself, which is closest to red. Of course, they were all familiar with the flashing fire of lightning and a few of them were also familiar with volcanic fire, but when they use the words πύρινον and φλόγινον to describe colour, without further clarification, then they mean the type of fire produced by wood, oil or wax mentioned above.

20. Nowadays wine comes in a variety of different colours, ranging from white through yellow to reddish-black. In antiquity, however, wine came in a very narrow range of colours, similar to the colours of today’s homemade and village wines. In any case, both in an objective sense (limited colour range) and in a subjective one (vagueness of meaning), if the colour names οἶνοψ and οἰνωπὸς used in Homer and authors of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.30 are both translated ‘wine-coloured’, their exact meaning remains uncertain, Nevertheless, these names certainly refer to a reddish-black type of wine. In the case of the Homeric οἶνοψ, it is likely that the suffix –οψ (ὄψις) does not mean ‘appearance’ but ‘eye’, as in κύκλωψ (cyclops) and μύωψ (short-sighted), in which case the word does not mean ‘red’ or ‘wine-coloured’ but ‘shiny’, like the very moist eyes of someone who has drunk a bit more wine than they should have done. In Euripides the word οἰνωπὸς describes a wine that dyes the beard or chin of the drinker in such a way that it appears bloodstained, while in Aristotle it defines the berry of a certain kind of grape.31

21. Μίλτος was the word used by the ancient Greeks to describe either red earth (ferrous clay), the colour of rust, iron or brick, or, I believe, bauxite, an aluminium ore of a faded crimson colour that is abundant in Greece; the shrine of the Delphic oracle is built on a surface layer of bauxite. These two types of earth or ore were used mainly as colouring on walls, earthen floors and ships. Already in Homer there is a reference to νῆεςμιλτοπάρῃοι (‘red-cheeked’ ships), while Herodotus contains the phrase μίλτῳχρίονται(‘smear themselves with red ochre’).32 From the 5th century B.C. onwards the following names are also used: μιλτόχριστος (‘smeared with red earth’), μιλτόχροος – μιλτόχρους(red earth-coloured), μιλτώδης (red earth-coloured), μιλτόπρεπτον (bright red) and Μιλτιάδης(Miltiades = red-cheeked, ruddy, reddish).33

22. As the colour of copper (χαλκός), in its pure and completely unoxidised state, is well known to all, the colour χαλκόχροον or χαλκόχρουν (copper-coloured) is obvious.34 The hair of people with auburn locks or beards is copper-coloured. This is why the Roman emperor Nero, who gained the title ‘Caesar’ through adoption, inherited from his father the name Aenobarbus (Latin aes = copper), i.e. ‘Copperbeard’ or ‘Redbeard’, like the modern ‘Blackbeard’. Barbarossa (Barba rosa), on the other hand, had a red beard of a slightly lighter hue, more like the colour of a rose (rosa).

23. Κιννάβαρι (cinnabar, a Hebrew word) originally denoted a herb from Palestine which produced a red dye, perhaps dyer’s madder (rubia tinctoria),35 which I mentioned earlier when referring to ἐρυθρὸν – ruben – ῥουμπίνι. However, from the year 404 B.C. mercury sulphide (HgS), the only ore of mercury, came to take the name cinnabar, for it was in that year that the ore was discovered in Asia Minor.36 Today cinnabar is used to produce red lipstick, while in antiquity it was also used to produce red ink.37 The prehistoric πορφύρεον – πορφυροῦν and the historical κινναβάρινον, which is first mentioned by Aristotle and his pupil Theophrastus,38 are all the same colour, the first two being organic and fugitive, while the third is inorganic and permanent. And they are the sweetest shade of the sweetest colour, red. This is why from the Alexandrine period up until the Fall of Constantinople (300 B.C. – 1453 A.D.) the kings and emperors forbade their use to common mortals so that only they could use them for their regal attire and for ink to sign their signatures and mark their logos (word) on their decrees and commands – besides, in pigment form purple was already rare due to the fact that the purple-fish had been grossly overfished for thousands of years, while the newly-discovered mineral cinnabar was even rarer. In the New Testament, as I have already mentioned, purple (πορφύρα) is also known by the name βασιλική (royal), while in the extant Byzantine Imperial autograph decrees known as chrysobulls, which are written mainly in black ink, wherever the word λόγος (logos) appears, in whatever grammatical case, it is written in red with cinnabar, as is the emperor’s signature. Although the ink is inorganic, it is also called κόγχη (= κογχύλι, shell) and κόχλος (= κοχλίας, snail) because, before cinnabar was discovered, ink was made from πορφύρα (purple-dye).39 This is the colour ἅλυκο (with a Latinate stress, in the manner of δαμάσκηνον and Παλαιστίνη), i.e. ἁλυκὸν (= of the sea, ἁλουργὲς, ἁλουργὸνand in Homer ἁλιπόρφυρον). From these words derive the modern Greek words and expressions ὁ ἥλιοςβασιλεύει (‘the sun is setting’, literally ‘is dressed in purple’, i.e. is turning red), ἡλιοβασίλεμα (sunset), τοῦ λόγου σου or ἐλόγου σου(Your Highness, Your Majesty) and πορφυρογέννητος (‘born in the purple’). As I have already mentioned, the kings allowed only a few of their highest-ranking officials to make partial use of this colour as a mark of office. From this derive the red ribbon that runs around the peaked caps worn by generals and the red lapels of their greatcoats, as well as the royal diadem of Alexander the Great, which, when he was not wearing the gold crown he wore in his throne room, consisted of a red fillet edged with gold that ran around his hair or his helmet.40 And the red colour of the crowns of later kings, who forbade lesser mortals to use this colour, was taken by the Turks, out of their envy of the Byzantine emperors, and the communists, out of their envy of kings, and used in their flags.

24. The sweetest shade of the sweetest colour, red, apart from πορφυροῦν and κινναβάρινον, is also called κόκκινον, the first instance of this being in the Old Testament (42 times in the Septuagint) and the second in the New Testament (6 times).41 In fact, the word occurs mainly in these two sources; the only other place where κόκκινονoccurs is in Plutarch, in about the year 100 A.D.42 Theophrastus, who lived at the time the Septuagint translation was produced, already makes two references to the word κόκκος, from the berry of the kermes oak (πρίνος), which the ancients used to dye hair, threads and garments red. The lexicographer Hesychius also says κόκκος ἐξ οὗ τὸ φοινικοῦν βάπτεται (coccus: that from which purple dye is obtained). Theophrastus mentions this κόκκοςonce in passing in his work On Stones and on a second occasion, in greater detail, in his work TheHistory of Plants. Hesychius draws on the second reference.43 This κόκκος – instead of κόκκινον – is mentioned by the poet who composed the Book of Lamentations in the Old Testament when, in speaking of those ‘brought up in scarlet’, he uses the phrase οἱτιθηνούμενοιἐπὶκόκκον,44 i.e., ‘those who as infants are nurtured in purple or red garments and coverings’. In the Bible the colours πορφυροῦν and κόκκινον generally have the same meaning and are used interchangeably without distinction. In Theophrastus the word κοκκοβαφής (scarlet-dyed) is used only on one occasion while, at a much later date, the word κοκκινοβαφής (scarlet-dyed) is used by Athenaeus.45 In even later texts the words κοκκινίζω (to be scarlet) and κοκκινοειδής (like the scarlet berry) are also to be found.46 From all this I conclude that the Greeks learnt about the colour κόκκινον, based on the pigment drawn from the berry of the kerm-oak, from the Asians through the Macedonian conquests, just as they learnt about many other things. More specifically, they probably learnt about it from the Hebrews, Syrians and Phoenicians, who had kerm-oaks in their countries.

25. Ὕσγη or ὑσγίνη is a herb which the ancients used to produce a red dye, and the colour from it was called ὕσγινον.47 It must have been a pale red, perhaps pink or rose-coloured. The related adjectives that come down to us are ὑσγινόεις and ὑσγινοβαφής, while the word ὑσγινόσημον is of unclear meaning. It occurs only in Diocletian’s Edict on Prices.48 It probably signifies a cloth woven with red thread or imprinted with red decorative patterns. These names appear as the names of colours, their related adjectives or pigments in Xenophon (4th cent. B.C.), Clearchus of Soli (4th-3rd cent. B.C.), Nicandrus (2nd cent. B.C.), Agatharchides (2nd cent. B.C.), Myrinus (1st cent. A.D.), Lucian (2nd cent. A.D.), Diocletian (3rd-4th cent. A.D.) and also the Summa (or Souda, 12th cent. A.D.). Ὑσγίνη and ὕσγινον, as a pigment and colour name respectively, appear to have been introduced into the Greek world from Asia or Africa, or even Western Europe, shortly before the time of Alexander the Great

26. The word ῥόδινον, from ῥόδα (= roses), of which the ancient Greeks knew only pink varieties, is used in ancient Greek to describe wreaths of flowers and perfumes,49 but not as a colour, as happens, for example, in the modern Greek words ῥόδινο and ῥοδίζει(= to turn rosy-hued, like the dawn or baked bread), which denote a pale red. It is only in the Hellenistic Anacreontics that we have the word ῥοδόχρους (Ἀφροδίτα),50 which evidently refers to Aphrodite’s rosy cheeks or fingers. However, already in Homer and Hesiod we have the phrase ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς (rosy-fingered Eos),51 either because the goddess Eos’s tender white fingers had a rosy tint or, leaving the myth aside, because the sky and surrounding area turns a rosy pink at the point where the sun comes up at dawn. In any event, all of these terms indicate only naturally occurring examples of the colour and not any pigments or objects dyed in a rose or pink colour.

27. The πύρρα is a reddish bird, and from this derives the colour πυρρόν,52 just as the colour ψαρόν derives from ψάρα (starling).53 When the adjectives πυρρὸς and πυρρά became proper nouns the stress shifted backwards according to the rule, giving us Πύρρος (Pyrrhus) and Πύρρα (Pyrrha), which probably mean ‘reddish’ or ‘sunburnt’. In preclassical Pseudo-Hesiod Pyrrha was the name of the mythical wife of Deucalion,54 while Pyrrhus was a famous king of Epirus born in the 4th century B.C. who claimed descent from mythical heroes, declaring that he was descended from Achilles’ son Neoptolemus, whom he also called Pyrrhus.55 Aeschylus calls a wood fire πυρρὴν γενειάδα (fiery beard), while Plato says that ‘chestnut comes from the blending of yellow and grey, and grey from white and black’ (πυρρὸν ξανθοῦ τε καὶ φαιοῦ κράσει γίγνεται, φαιὸν δὲ λευκοῦ τε καὶ μέλανος) and Aristotle says that ‘all lions are tawny’ (λέοντες πυρροὶ πάντες).56 Of course, the large African lion, and the Numidian variety in particular, is clearly redder than the smaller and lighter coloured Asian lion, while from Homer’s descriptions57 it appears that the lions that roamed ancient Greece were of the Numidian variety. In the Old Testament (in the Septuagint version of the 3rd cent. B.C.), in the Book of Genesis, we have the expression ἕψημα πυρρὸν (‘red pottage’) for cooked lentils, in Numbers the phrase δάμαλις πυρρά (red heifer), and in Kingdoms (II Kings) the phrase ὕδαταπυρρὰ ὡσεὶαἷμα (water as red as blood), while in Zechariah and the Book of Revelation in the New Testament we have the expression ἵπποιπυρροὶ (red horses). In the Song of Songs the weatherbeaten and suntanned King Solomon is called λευκὸςκαὶπυρρός (white and ruddy), while in the New Testament we find the verb πυρράζει ὁ οὐρανὸς (‘the sky is red’, referring to dawn or sunset).58 In the Septuagint the derivative πυρράκης (red, ruddy) is used to describe weatherbeaten suntanned men like the hunter Esau and the shepherd David, who lived in the sundrenched countryside.59 Fire, lions, ‘red horses’, ‘red heifers’, suntanned men of the open countryside, cooked lentils and bloodstained water, all described as having the colour πύρρα: my conclusion from all this is that πύρρα signified a reddish-brown.

28. Xenophon, Plato and Aristotle mention the colour ὄρφνιον, which linguistically simply means ‘dark’, as ὄρφνη means ‘night’ and ὀρφναῖον ‘nocturnal᾿. Initially, it is not clear exactly what colour it signifies. However, Aristotle explains that it is dark red (ζοφερὸν ἁλουργές).60

Of a similar colour to this must be the late Byzantine term μολυβδοχαλκόχρουν (leaden copper),61 as the word itself suggests.

29. In order to describe the different variations and related shades of red, Aristotle’s pupil Clearchus of Soli uses the adjective παραλουργής,62 i.e. ‘similar to red’, ‘related to red’ or ‘roughly red’.

In the texts there are more references to the colour red than there are to all the other colours put together.

In archaeological terms, it appears that in antiquity three colours were used more frequently than any others, either because they were popular or because they were technically easier to produce: white, black and red.

30. D. Κίτρινον. For the ancients, the fourth easiest colour to produce in terms of dye manufacture was yellow, which probably acquired the name κίτρινον in the Alexandrine era, although the name first appears in the surviving texts in the 2nd century A.D., and this has remained its name up until the present day. The ancients called it successively χλωρὸν (bright green), ὑακίνθινον (hyacinthine), ὠχρὸν (pale yellow), θειῶδες (sulphureous) and κίτρινον; this is the chronological order in which the names appear in the extant texts. When this colour was required for plastering walls, the ancients produced it with the mineral ὤχρα(yellow ochre),63 which they soaked and then spread, just as they did with the mineral μίλτον (red earth or bauxite), and this is how yellow ochre plaster was made until recently in Greek villages. When yellow was required for dyeing clothes, hides and other such things, the ancients would make the dye with plant extracts and then immerse the materials in pots of boiling water stained with the dye.

31. Χλοερὸν – χλωρὸν, from the word χλόη. From the Homeric era up until New Testament times these words signified either yellow or green, evidently because grass (χλόη), when it is still in the form of tender shoots, is a pale colour. In Homer, for example, we have the phrase χλωρὸνδέος (yellow fear), in the Psalms χλωρότης χρυσίου (yellow gold), and in Revelation the expression ἵππος χλωρὸς… ὄνομα αὐτῷ <Ὁθάνατος> (a pale horse…and his name that sat on him was Death). In Homer we also have the phrase χλωραὶ ῥῶπαι (green branches of trees), in Pseudo-Hesiod we find the expression χλωρὸς ἀδάμας(green oxidised copper), in Mark’s Gospel the phrase χλωρὸς χὀρτος(green grass), and in Revelation χλωρὸνδένδρον (green tree).64 The colour χλωρὸν, of course,is only vaguely yellow since there is no clear difference between it and green.

32. The word ὑακίνθινον, which was also used between the time of Homer and the New Testament era, clearly denotes a vivid and sweet yellow colour. It signifies the yellow colour of the ὑάκινθος (hyacinth flower or precious stone), primarily the flower and, to a lesser extent, the precious stone. The stone was also known as λιγύριον or λαγούρι and nowadays is known as ζιρκόνιον (zirkon). This colour ὑακίνθινον is mentioned repeatedly in Homer, while it is also mentioned 24 times in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament (and another 30 times simply as ὑάκινθος, referring to yellow threads, clothes and hides) and once in the New Testament. It also occurs in Theocritus, the Summa (or Souda) and in several other authors,65 while in Xenophon and Arrian the colour adjective ὑακiνθινοβαφής(‘dyed a hyacinth colour’) is also to be found.66In Revelation a range of colours is also mentioned in the phrase θώρακαςπυρίνουςκαὶ ὑακινθίνουςκαὶθειώδεις(breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone), i.e. the reddish-orange colour of fire, the deep yellow of hyacinth and the pale yellow of sulphur. Out of ignorance and in order to serve fanciful cabbalistic ideas, the Alexandrian Jew Philo states that ὑακίνθινον is the colour black, while another Jew, Josephus, modifying it, states that it is blue. There is no such thing as a black flower in nature, nor does the precious stone hyacinth have a black, blue or other hue. Because of these two Greek-speaking Jews the same mistake is also made in the relevant entry of Liddell and Scott’s lexicon of ancient Greek.68

33. From the mineral ὤχρα, which was known to the Greeks at least from the 5th century B.C. onwards, derives the word ὠχρὸν, meaning yellow, which was used by Euripides, Aristophanes, Plato and Aristotle69 and is still used today.

34. The word θειῶδες for yellow derives from θεῖον (sulphur) and, as I have already mentioned, signifies the light, lemonish yellow colour of this mineral. Dioscurides also gives us the adjective θειόχρους for this mineral.70

35. The colour yellow is described as κίτρινον for the first time by the grammarian Herodianus in about 150 A.D., the name being drawn from κίτρον, κίτριον or κιτρόμηλον (lemon). His contemporary Galen also uses the adjective κιτροειδής.71

36. The colours χρυσοῦν and ξανθόν are also shades of yellow. Χρυσός (gold), as everybody knows, is a yellow metal; only this, bronze (CuSn) and brass (CuZn) are yellow metals. This is why the colour χρυσοῦνis exactly yellow, though with a metallic shine; the relationship between yellow and gold is similar to that between white and silver. The colour χρύσειον – χρύσεον – χρυσοῦν is also mentioned in the Achaean syllabic tablets at Knossos and Pylos (κυ –ρυ – σο, 15th and 13th cent. B.C.), and in Homer, and has been used ever since.72 The colour ξανθόνhas been in use over the same period of time. Theophrastus describes as ξανθός (yellow) the precious stone hyacinth, which is an ideal yellow and exclusively so (καὶτὰλυγγούρια…, ὧντὸθῦλυ… ξανθότερον = ‘the varieties of the lyngourion [λιγύριον, hyacinth], for the female is more…yellow’), while Pliny, in speaking of the same stone, says that it has a shiny gold colour (hyacinthos… aureo fulgore tralucentes).73 The adjective χρυσόχρους also exists.74

37. The four remaining colours – κρόκινον, πράσινον, κυανοῦν and ἰῶδες – were, as dyes, much more difficult for the ancient Greeks to produce than the previous four, and in the texts they are mentioned much less frequently. The celebrated painters Apelles, Echion, Melanthius and Nicomachus – whose paintings, according to Pliny, were as valuable as the treasuries of entire cities – executed their immortal works with only four colours: white, yellow, red and black.75 All four lived during the time of Alexander the Great, while Apelles was his personal painter.

38. E. Κρόκινον. This colour is roughly orange, the colour of the κρόκος (crocus), a flower which, though occasionally of a different colour, usually has a sweet orange colour like that of the yolk (κρόκος) of an egg, which took its name from the flower by the 6th century A.D. at the latest.76 The flower and its colour are already mentioned in Homer.77 The name was probably also used well before Homer because on the 13th-cent.-B.C. Achaean tablet PY An 656.7 from Pylos we find the name Κο – ρο –κυ– ρa – ι – ιο, i.e. Κροκύλαιον. This colour also exists in the rainbow, as the second colour in from the upper edge after red; and it also often appears in the sky around the rising sun; this is why Homer repeatedly uses the phrase κροκόπεπλος Ἠώς(saffron-robed Dawn). Hesiod, meanwhile, uses the adjective κροκόπεπλος for two other goddesses. Sophocles, too, uses the phrase χρησαυγὴςκρόκος (crocus blooming with a golden gleam).78 In the ancient texts this colour is called κροκόεν – κρόκοεν – κρόκινον, while the adjectives used for it are κροκόεις, κρόκεος, κρόκινος, κροκοειδὴς, κροκώδης, κροκωτὸς – κροκωτὸν, κροκώτινος, κροκοβαφὴς, κροκόβαπτος and κροκόχρους. Clothes dyed this colour are called κροκωτὰ, κροκώτια and κροκωτίδια, while someone wearing such clothes is called κροκεἰμων or κροκοφορῶν – κροκοφοροῦσα.79 Aeschylus mentions κρόκουβαφάς (saffron robes),80although achieving this colour, despite the fact that the process had been known since prehistoric times, was very difficult and it was not always possible to obtain the desired hue. The ancients had a great liking for materials and garments dyed κρόκινον.81 Herodotus also calls this colour σανδαράκινον82 from σανδαράκη, an ore of arsenic, arsenic trisulphide (As2S3), which is a naturally occurring example of this colour, though not a pigment. Today this colour is known as κρόκινον (saffron) or πορτοκαλί(orange) in Greek. The colour κρόκινον is produced when red and yellow are mixed together, and is visible not only in the mixing of these two pigments (i.e. when the two paints are mixed together) but also in the rainbow, where it can be seen between these two colours. Its wavelength also lies between the wavelengths of red and yellow. The colour of egg yolk also very often borders on yellow or actually matches it.

39. F. Πράσινον (green). The colour πράσινον, from light lime green to dark brownish green, has been known to man since earliest times, both from the rainbow and, above all, forests and other vegetation. It is also well known that green rarely occurs in animals, just as the colour black rarely occurs in plants, and never in flowers; black occurs only in the poppy, in patches at the bases of its petals and also on the heads of its stamens. Even so, for the ancients green was the hardest, if not an impossible, colour to achieve, and green ink appeared only in late Byzantine times.83 Green is called χλωρὸν in Homer (χλωραὶ ῥῶπαι = pale green branches of trees), Pseudo-Hesiod (χλωρὸς ἀδάμας = green oxidised copper) and the Bible (χλωρὸς χόρτος = green grass; χλωρὸν δἐνδρον = green tree),84 from the word χλόη (green shoots). Moreover, the word χλωρίς is used even today in Greek to signify vegetation. Other words for green are βατράχειον (frog-green) – in Aristophanes, Pausanias and Julius Pollux, μήλινον (apple-green) – in Democritus, Ephesius and Agatharchides, ὀμφάκινον (the colour of ὄμφαξ = sour grapes) – in Julius Pollux (this colour was particularly well liked by Alexander the Great: ὀμφάκινον…, τούτῳ δὲ τῷ χρώματι καὶ Ἀλέξανδρον ἥδεσθαι λέγουσι = ‘Omphikion… Alexander is said to have delighted in this colour’), and σμαράγδινον (emerald green) – in the Book of Revelation and the 1st-century A.D. author Pliny, who says that there is nothing greener than the precious stone emerald (nihil omnino viridius),85 although what he probably means is that there is no sweeter kind of green than emerald green. However, from the 4th century B.C. at the latest, the word used for the colour green is πράσιον in Plato or πράσινον in Aristotle,86πράσιον deriving from πρασιὰ (= grass, lawn) and πράσινον from πράσον (leek), which, however, is not all that green. It seems that πράσιονappeared first from πρασιὰ and then various ignorant individuals, thinking that the word πράσιον came from πράσον, changed it to πράσινον (= leek-colour). Just as the words πορφυρὶς, ἁλουργὶς, παραλουργὶς, φοινικὶς, κόκκος or κόκκινον were used to describe red garments, and the words κροκωτὸν, κροκώτιον and κροκωτίδιον to describe orange garments, so were the words βατραχὶς and ὀμφάκινον used to denote green.

40. G. Κυανοῦν (dark blue). Κύανος is the word used in Homer for zinc,88 and its mineral aurichalcite [(Zn1Cu)5 (CO3)2 (OH)6], which was known to the ancients, has a bold, vivid and sweet blue colour, while the pure, silver-coloured metal itself also has a bluish hue. For this reason from this naturally occuring example of the colour derived the colour names κυάνιον, κυάνεον and κυανοῦν, just as in Greek we have χρυσὸς and χρυσοῦν(gold), ἄργυρος and ἀργυροῦν (silver), χαλκὸς and χαλκοῦν (copper) and πορφύρα and πορφυροῦν. The pure metal came to be called ψευδάργυρος later, in Strabo, during the time of Christ..90 Even before Homer, on the Achaean clay tablets we find the names κύανος (κυ – fa – νο) and κύανιον – κυάνεον (κυ– fa – νι – ιο).91 Natural and endless examples of the colour κυανοῦν, of course (in Greek also γαλάζιος, γαλανὸς, μπλὲ, θαλασσὶ and οὐρανί), have always been visible in the sky and the sea, hence the modern use of θαλασσὶ (sea-blue) and οὐρανί (sky-blue) to denote the colour. In antiquity, of course, the name for sea-blue (dark blue) was, of course, θαλασσοειδές,92 while the most common word for sky-blue (light blue) was γλαυκόν,93 although this word also meant dark blue. For in Homer we have both the expression γλαυκὴθάλασσα (blue sea, i.e. a darker blue) and Γλαῦκος (Glaucus = with light blue eyes), while in Hesiod the sea is simply called γλαυκὴ, without the word θάλασσα. In Homer we also find the word γλαυκῶπις signifying a blue-eyed woman.94 The intermediate, or ideal, shade of blue, i.e. one that is neither light nor dark, was called κυανοῦν, from κύανος, the mineral mentioned earlier. The words γαλάζιος and γαλανὸς are modern Greek names for blue. In antiquity the production of blue dyes was very difficult and rarely successful. Such a dye was produced with στίμμι (stibium, Sb), i.e. antimonite (antimony sulphide, Sb2S3), an ore of antimony, which women in antiquity used to colour their eyelashes and eyelids, as is recorded in the Old Testament,95 and as can be seen in Minoan painted representations of women. In Minoan antiquities the colour blue can be found in both painted representations and also a board game like backgammon, painted blue and white like the Greek flag. In any event, the colour blue was almost non-existent in art and in daily life. The ancients could see abundant examples of the colour blue in the sky, the sea, blue flowers in the countryside, blue ores and gemstones and the rainbow, yet were unable to enjoy it in daily life. This is why they regarded all blue objects as precious. Blue ink was unknown even in Byzantium.96 It cannot be found in any ancient manuscripts, either of parchment or paper. The colour can be found very occasionally in manuscript miniatures, though in such cases it is not in the form of writing ink.

41. H. Ἰῶδες (violet). The colour ἰῶδες, the last colour of the rainbow on its innermost side, which took its name from the ἴον (a type of violet) – i.e. the Modern Greek colours λιλὰ(mauve), μὼβ(mauve), δαμασκηνὶ (plum-coloured) or μελιτζανί(aubergine-coloured) –, is first mentioned in about 300 B.C. by Theophrastus and Democritus of Ephesus. Theophrastus knows of the object that is a natural example of the colour but it is not clear if he is familiar with the colour pigment known to Democritus, who mentions violet-coloured (ἰοβαφής) cloths and chitones.97 In the natural world, of course, the ancients could see this colour in the rainbow and in many types of flowers (e.g. violet, colchicum, cyclamen, mallow and thistle) and gemstones, but in art it was a difficult colour to produce, and rarely produced successfully.

42. So much for the eight groups of colours in antiquity. The ancient Greeks had other strange names for hybrid colours and others that are difficult to define, such as τεφρὸν(ash-coloured), μύινον (mouse-coloured) and κίλλιον or ὀνάγριον (donkey-coloured), just as today in modern Greek we have ἀηδονὶ (nightingale-coloured), σομὸν (salmon pink), κοκκαλὶ (bone-coloured), ζαχαρὶ (sugar-coloured), σταχτὶ (ashen grey), κανελλὶ (cinnamon), μουσταρδὶ (mustard), σάπιομῆλο (rotten apple-coloured), σκατὶ (shit-coloured) and χακί(khaki). The reason for this is because when there is no special word for a colour that is difficult to define, we usually use the name of the object that provides an example of that colour in nature. The ancients also had colours based on the names of cities or other places, such as Μῆλος (Melos) or Μήλιον (white), Ἰνδικόν (Indian = black), Ἀττικόν (Attic = yellow), Ἐρέτρια (Eretria = yellow), Ἀρμένιον (Armenian = red), Παραιτόνιον (Paraitonion = red) and Σινώπη or Σινωπικὸν (Sinope = red),98 just as today we have colours like burgundy and Air Force blue, which can be very difficult to define.

43. The colours of the rainbow, which is, as I have said, a resolution of sunlight, consist in the following seven colours (from the outside edge of the rainbow to its inside edge): red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

44. The nine main colours (with blue broken down into blue and indigo), each with the main example of that colour in nature, are as follows:

White

Snow

Green

Vegetation

Black

Soot

Blue

Sky

Red

Blood

Indigo

Sea

Orange

Saffron

Violet

Thistle

Yellow

Sulphur

45. Below, in tabular form, I provide the names of the main colours that appear on the pre-Homeric Achaean tablets, in Latin form in Roman texts, in abbreviated Biblical Hebrew and in the Greek Bible (Septuagint and New Testament).

46.1 Colours occurring on the Achaean tablets

Λευκόν

ρε - υ - κο

ΠΥ An 615,13

ἄργυρος

α - κυ - ρο

ΠΥ Sa 287

ἐρυθρόν

ε - ρυ - το - ρο

KN As 1517,7

ἐρυθρά

ε - ρυ - τα - ρα

ΠΥSb 1315,1

μιλτόεσσα

μι - το - fε - σα

KN Sd 0407 + 0414, b

πορφύριος

πο - πυ - ριο

KN L 758,a

πορφύρεια

πο - πυ - ρε - ια

KN L 474

πυρρὸς

πυ - fο

KN As 1516, 10

πυρρὰ

πυ - fα

KN Ap 639, 11

πύρρινον

πυ - fι - νο

ΠΥCN 655, 5

Κροκύλαιον

Κο - ρο - κυ - ρα - ι - ιο

ΠΥAn 656, 7

ξανθόν

κα - σα - το

KN C 912, 8

χρύσιον

κυ - ρυ - σο

ΠΥ Τa 714, 1

κυάνιον

κυ - fα - νι - ιο

ΠΥ Τa 714, 3

κύανος

κυ - fα - νο

ΠΥ Τa 714, 1

The colours μέλαν, πράσινον and ἰῶδεςdo not occur on the tablets.

47. The main colours in Latin

λευκόν

album

ἀργυροῦν

argenteum, candidum

μέλαν

atrum, nigrum

ἐρυθρόν

rubrum

κόκκινον

coccinum

πορφυροῦν

purpureum

ὑακίνθινον

hyacinthinum

θειῶδες

sulphureum

ὠχρόν

pallidum

χρυσοῦν

aureum

ξανθόν

flavum

κρόκινον

crocinum

πράσινον

viride, porraceum

σμαράγδινον

smaragdinum

κυανοῦν

caeruleum

ἰῶδες

violaceum

48 Colours occurring in Biblical Hebrew

λευκόν

λβν

μέλαν

σ̒̒ ρ

ἐρυθρόν

αδμ

πυρρόν

αδμ

πυρράκης

αδμνι

κόκκινον

σνι

φοινικοῦν

σνι

πορφυροῦν

αργμν

πύρινον

ασ

ὑακίνθινον

τκλτ

ὑάκινθος

τκλτ

χρυσοῦν

zεβ

ξανθόν

zεβ

χλωρὸν (χόρτος)

ιρq

The colours κρόκινον, κυανοῦν and ἰῶδες do not occur. However, the following phrase does occur: ὥσπερ εἶδος στερεώματος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ (σμιμ) τῇ καθαριότητι (Ex. 24.10: ‘…as it were the appearance of the firmament of heaven in its purity’), by which the author means the colour sky blue or sapphire.

49. Names of colours mentioned in the Greek Bible (Septuagint and New Testament)

λευκόν

πορφύρα

ξανθόν

ἔκλευκος

πορφυροῦν

πύρινον

ἄργυρος

πυρρόν

ὤχρα

μέλαν

πυρράκης

χλωρότης (χρυσίου)

φαιόν

φοινικοῦν

χλωρόν

ψαρός

ὑακίνθινον

σμαράγδινον

ἐρυθρόν

ὑάκινθος

κόκκος

θειῶδες

κόκκινον

χρυσοῦν

50. It should be emphasised that in this study of colours it was my intention to provide an interpretation of their meanings in the texts and not to make a physical, chemical or mineralogical analysis of them.